far, far away

She set me up and knocked me down

Well, I'm really glad my supervisor opened her big mouth. Last week I taught a lesson at the elementary school. It didn't go so great. I can honestly say that it was the two 6th grade teachers fault, they didn't really help me that much. They knew the lesson plan and just did not follow it with me. My supervisor happened to be there and wasn't happy. She was angry that they wasted the time of me and the students.

This was good, at least I thought it would be. It went up our chain of command to our principle and over to the elementary school principle and back down their chain of command, so I'm told. I'm guessing they didn't like it much. I'm sure they didn't like a middle school teacher (my supervisor) telling them how they should be using the school district's ALT (me). Maybe they thought the complaint came from me, who knows.

So what came of it all? Did they reduce the class size (all 75 6th grade students) or change the room (not even a class room)? No. Did anything change? No. What came of it?

The two 6th grade teachers used the occasion to point out that I hadn't given them a lesson plan for the coming week. So, I got to hear from my principle and vice-principle that my lesson plan was "late" (I had told them I would get them a lesson plan next week, not that they seem to care when I give them lesson plans anyway).

Let's sum things up- I look like an ass and my supervisor totally backs down from the whole thing. Cool.

Meeting Shmeeting

Thursday and Friday brought the excitement of a conference on improving team teaching. Ehhh, it was pretty stupid. The best parts were the high school taiko drum group. But that was at the beginning of the two day adventure. Every seminar had the same basic conclusion, more communication, more planning, blah blah blah. A bunch of people all making each other feel all important. I got a few ideas, but most of the content wasn't revolutionary. Bleh, bleh, bleh.

At least after it ended on Friday I met Michelle at Namba (downtown Osaka). We walked around the shops for a while, stopped at the Kirin brewery for some snacks and drinks, and then got dinner at a noodle stand (how Japanese). It was quite tasty.

Don't forget

Party, Nara, Mall

Wow, I've been a busy guy the past few days. Lots of fun. Lots of money.

Friday night was our monthly work party. We have a more formal party every other month, where everyone from work comes and we sort of go all out, and a less formal party once a month. Usually the younger teachers go to the less formal monthly parties. We went to a great Japanese steak place, course style. There was about 7 or 8 courses. A nice little sushi starter, a salad, a soup type dish with a potato dumpling. Just that was great and then came out the half lobster and then the fillet. Fantastic. A mini rice curry, ice cream, and coffee finished the meal off.

I was a little worried about the $50 price tag at first, but was very happy in the end. My partner in crime, Narasaki Sensei, and I polished off a bottle of shochu, adding another $10 to my bill. I got to know my co-workers a bit better and relax with them all. Money well spent. I was a little disappointed that there was no karaoke after the meal though. Maybe next month. See my drunker walk home here.

Saturday Shell and I took a trip into the neighboring prefecture to see the deer park and giant Buddha statue at Nara. The train ride was pleasant. The Kintestsu line brings one up into the eastern mountains around Osaka and right before you go through the tunnel into Nara you get to overlook all of Osaka. The weather was great for this time of year. Shell fed some of the deer. It was a fantastic day all around.

Sunday we did the traditional Japanese thing and went shopping. We walked around the Rinku-town Outlet Stores. Nothing special there, but after we got some coffee at Starbucks we walked around the back of the stores and found out that the beach was right there, so we walked along the beach for a little bit. This led us to a little park right by the bridge going to the airport, which I've seen every time I've gone to the airport. It's rare to see any greenery in Japan, so it was a great little discovery.

iPods at 7-11

This was in the news a few weeks ago. 7-11 in Japan was supposed to start carrying iPods. Well, I walked into get some lunch today and there they were. Pretty cool. I was really tempted to buy one.

First news, then rant

Not feeling well at all. I can't get over this cold, or whatever it is. I cough incessantly and it's that deep down type of cough where one can hear a sort of liquid move around in what seems to be your lungs. My joints ache and I feel warm quite often, though I have no fever. I've run out of medicine from the first trip to the doctor, though it didn't do much anyway. Bleh.

Next, let's talk about how the Japanese are always busy. First, let's get this out of the way right now, they are not actually busy all the time. They like to make you think they are constantly busy. Everyone loves to tell you how busy they are. It's like a huge conspiracy conceived by the entire Japanese race. Why do they do this? I have no idea. Perhaps it gives them some (false) sense of purpose. Granted the people I work with do work long hours. This however does not mean that they are busy. The activities that take place in a school take place over a long span of time. This does not create busy-ness. You work from 8:30 to 5, sometimes 6. It's called work. Life if you will. Get over it....

That ends today's rant. Thanks you.

Blog Ring

Just a quick update. I submitted my site to the Japan Bloggers Webring and they liked it. So I've added a link bar on the right hand side. Check it out, there's a wide variety of Japan blogs, ranging from the typical to the just plain strange.

Our work day trip is coming up next week. While everyone is supposed to go, I've been told that people get out of it and I was lucky enough to be granted a choice. It's a trip into Kyoto for white water rafting and a trip to a nice onsen (hot springs). While getting naked with my male co-workers is neither appealing nor appalling (I've been to such places before), the $160 price tag turned me off to the idea. Plus, Michelle is only here for so long and we take trips on the weekends. That said, I won't be going.

Fall in full force?

The Japanese always like to point out that they have four distinct seasons and they celebrate each in a special way. When Autumn arrives the Japanese like to view the changing maple leaves. So, Shellie and I packed up our Bento's (boxed lunches) and headed up to the northern part of Osaka to see the Fall leaves at Mino-o Park.

Unfortunately, is seems that the rather warm weather has the trees a bit confused. The colors were mostly green, but we did see some pretty nice colors as we reached the top of the mountain where it's a tad cooler.

The weather was fantastic and it was a great way to spend a peaceful afternoon.

Sunday started out with the same type of weather, but quickly changed to a steel gray sky. It was also quite chilly. Shellie and I went over to Aeon (big shopping mall on our train line) and shopped for a while. I got a memory card for my cell phone, finally! So, I can post lost of pictures on my Moblog now without worrying about the cost.

I was going to do some photo-shop work on the photos, but it seems my external hard drive is on the fritz, so I have to reinstall photo-shop...which I didn't feel like doing. Sorry.

Big News!

I haven't posted anything in a few days, but it's been an exciting few days.

Last Sunday Michelle and I got engaged. Pretty exciting, right?

It's something that I had been thinking about a lot over the past few weeks. I know to some it might not seem like the best move at this point in my life, but I cannot think of a better one. And getting married certainly is not going to stand in the way of any of the other goals I have in life, it will not make me less ambitious. If anything I know that Michelle will help me accomplish those things that are important to me and keep me headed towards my goals.

I have known Michelle for quite a long time, I want people to remember that. I would never embark upon something like this without giving it the most serious thought I could, but in the end the final decision came to me quite easily. I couldn't imagine finding someone who would make a better wife or that shares the same dreams as me.

4 day weekend, 5 day week

Well, my grand four-day weekend has come to an end. It was quite a relaxing time and probably much needed when I think about it now. I'm still not feeling so great, this cold may be more than just that, but at least I feel rested now.

It was Shell's birthday this weekend, so we went to Universal Studios on Saturday and got dinner at the Hard Rock. Season passes were on sale, so I bought them for us. It's something we can whenever we feel like now, plus they cost less than two visits, so if we ever went again and hadn't bought them I'd be kicking myself.

The month is going by quickly, so far. Two full weeks of work, followed by days of work, a day off and a two day conference and the month is out.